A chuckwagon sandwich is a bun layered with cotto salami, bologna, ham, American and Swiss cheese, plus mustard and mayo. At camp, you wrap it in foil and warm it over hot coals for about 5 to 10 minutes, turning the packet so the bottom bun doesn’t toast hard. Prep takes 2 minutes. The published recipe it comes from lists about 453 calories per sandwich.
Salami, bologna, ham and cheese all travel in the cooler, so the only work at camp is a bed of coals and a roll of foil. The camping recipes and meals guide covers other dinners built the same way.
Where the name comes from
The name points to the chuck wagon, the cattle-drive kitchen, where food had to keep without refrigeration. Cured meat suited that, and it’s still the core of the sandwich, stacked on a bun with sliced cheese.
The name isn’t a fixed recipe, though. It’s also attached to a chicken-fried steak sandwich, a ground beef burger and an oven grilled cheese. The build below is the deli style.
Ingredients (makes 1 sandwich)
| Ingredient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Large hamburger or Kaiser bun | 1 |
| Cotto salami, sliced | 2 slices |
| Bologna, sliced | 2 slices |
| Deli thin-sliced ham | 2 slices |
| American cheese | 1 slice |
| Swiss cheese | 1 slice |
| Yellow mustard | to taste |
| Mayonnaise | to taste |
| Hot pepper sauce (optional) | a few dashes |
How to make it at the campsite
- Wait for the fire to settle into hot, ash-covered coals. Tall flames burn through foil and scorch the bun before the center warms.
- Open the bun and stack the salami, bologna and ham on the bottom half. The American and Swiss go on top of the meat.
- Spread mustard and mayo, add hot sauce if you want it, and close the bun.
- Wrap the whole thing in two layers of heavy-duty foil. Crimp the seams so nothing leaks.
- Put the packet on or next to the coals, or in a covered Dutch oven that’s already warm. Give it 5 to 10 minutes and turn the packet several times so every side of the foil gets heat, not just the bottom.
- Open it carefully, because steam comes out fast. The cheese should be melted and the meat hot through. Start checking at the short end of the range. Extra time mostly gets you hard bread.
If the sandwich has been above 40°F for more than 2 hours (1 hour if it’s above 90°F outside), throw it away. Reheating does not make it safe.
Heating without a fire
Fire bans sometimes cover camp stoves and charcoal as well. Read the ban’s wording, or ask the campground or land agency, before you assume a stove is allowed.
At a powered RV site, or at home before you leave, a paper towel wrapper and about 30 seconds in the microwave will do it. Go longer and the bun turns tough.
On a camp stove, put the foil packet in a covered skillet over low heat and flip it now and then. Check early, since the bun can scorch.
An RV oven suits the grilled cheese version better: buttered bread, cheese and meat go in while the oven preheats to 350°F. Shut the oven off once it reaches temperature, then flip the sandwich to melt the cheese and toast the second side.
Make-ahead and storage
You can assemble sandwiches at home, but leave the mayo off because it turns the bun soggy. Wrap each one in foil, pack them in the cooler, and add mayo at camp or from single-serve packets.
Sliced deli meat is perishable and shouldn’t ride in a warm car or sit on a sunny picnic table. Hold the cooler at 40°F or below with plenty of ice, and eat the sandwiches early in the trip. Anything that has warmed up goes in the trash, and a sandwich that has already been heated and left out shouldn’t be re-wrapped and reheated.
Calories and nutrition
The published camp recipe uses one slice each of the meats and cheese, not the two-slice build in the table above. It lists 453 calories, 25 g protein, 28 g fat (13 g saturated), 25 g carbohydrates, 5 g sugar and 1 g fiber, along with 78 mg cholesterol and 1,403 mg sodium. Two slices of each meat add calories and sodium, so treat those numbers as a floor for this version.
The sodium is high because every layer is cured or processed. Using one meat instead of three, skipping the second cheese, or swapping in fresh-roasted turkey slices brings it down. The packaged Deli Express sandwich is listed on Amazon at 350 calories per serving, but the listing doesn’t define a serving, so it can’t be compared directly with the homemade figure.
Variations
The chicken-fried steak sandwich needs a skillet and a stove. Cubed steak gets a flour dredge and an egg dip, then a coat of breadcrumbs mixed with paprika, garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper. Pan-fry it in a shallow layer of oil and serve it on a hamburger bun with lettuce and tomato.
The chuckwagon burger mixes ground beef with onion soup mix, shapes it into patties, and grills or broils them. A toasted sesame bun or a biscuit both work, with cheese if you want it. Cook the beef to 160°F inside.
Oven grilled cheese trades the bun for buttered bread, with cheese, smoked ham and salami inside. It’s the variation that fits an RV oven, using the 350°F method from the heating section.
For more heat on the deli version, use pepper jack in place of Swiss, or tuck pickled jalapeños under the cheese.
Buying the packaged version
Deli Express is one of two pre-made lines sold for resale, along with Landshire. As of October 2026, Amazon lists a case of 10 Deli Express sandwiches (4.5 oz each) for $70.82, about $1.57 per ounce or roughly $7 per sandwich. The listing shows 4.3 of 5 stars from 172 ratings. Reviewers say it arrives frozen in a cooler with dry ice, several call it pricey, and one says the meat portion shrank over time. Per the seller’s policy it’s non-returnable for food safety reasons unless it arrives damaged or defective.
Span Elite, an Alaska grocery provider, lists a 10-count case of the salami variety at $38.03 including tax, about $0.85 per ounce, as of the same date. Landshire also sells a Chuck Wagon Sandwich on Amazon.
Frequently asked questions
Do they still make chuckwagon sandwiches?
Yes. Deli Express and Landshire both sell pre-made versions. The Deli Express sandwich is built on a poppy seed Kaiser bun and comes in bulk cases on Amazon and through grocery suppliers such as Span Elite. Prices change, so check the listing before you order.
What type of meat is a chuck wagon sandwich?
The deli version uses cured, sliced meat: salami, bologna and ham, with cured turkey in some packaged versions. The chicken-fried steak sandwich uses cubed beef steak, and the burger uses ground beef cooked to 160°F inside.
How is a chuckwagon sandwich typically prepared?
It’s assembled cold, then warmed in foil. Over coals that takes 5 to 10 minutes with the packet turned. At a powered site, a paper towel wrap and about 30 seconds in the microwave does the same job. If a fire ban is in effect, read its wording before using a stove.
How many calories are in a chuckwagon sandwich?
The homemade recipe with one slice each of meat and cheese is listed at 453 calories. The two-slice build in the table above will come in higher, since each extra slice adds calories and sodium. The packaged Deli Express listing says 350 calories per serving but gives no serving size, so don’t compare the two directly.
